26 Dey 1404
Quatrain 69 of 75
“Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!
That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close!
The Nightingale that in the Branches sang,
Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!”
Reflection · Winter 1404
The autumn of this verse meets winter coming. Alas, that spring should vanish with the rose — and it did, and the winter confirms it. The nightingale that in the branches sang — ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows? This is the winter question about everything that was: the summer, the warmth, the particular faces and voices and mornings that were real and are now past.
Khayyam allows this not-knowing to be not-knowing. He does not resolve it. The whence and whither remain unanswered. The nightingale has flown. Sometimes that is the complete truth of the thing.